Today is called Le Reveillon de Noel (Christmas Eve). The weather has turned better and as everywhere in the Christian world it was on for young and old alike. Shopping, food, etc. but for our Muslim friends in the smaller shops of the area it was just another day and their shops will be open tomorrow. Oddly enough, however, their shops are often the most heavily decorated with Christmas motifs; Santas, sleighs, christmas trees, etc.
Parisians seem very keen on environmental issues. Recently when Virginia and I went to the pharmacy, we made our purchases and since they were small, when we were offered a plastic bag, we said it was not required and just pocketed our purchases. You would have thought we had saved the world. The pharmacist launched into a "thank you for thinking ecologically" speech that would have done justice to the most fervent environmentalist. Oddly enough, at the same time, when you go to the grocery store there are no "green" bags for sale and the plastic bags are handed out with what virtually amounts to wild abandon! This seems to be one of the few blind spots since when we take our garbage down to put it into the big bins they are clearly labelled and there are three distinct categories in which your garbage is to be placed.
The weather has turned milder and we went for a long walk this afternoon with the temperature seeming warm at one degree above zero. It's amazing how quickly you become accustomed to the colder weather. Now, anything above zero seems warm to us. Our walk took us to the Place du Tertre where we had lunch in a small shop. The shop's cat was sound asleep on the table next to us and we both thought how this would have been frowned upon in Australia.
Later we did a bit of shopping and had some seafood and a very small Christmas log for Christmas eve dinner.
We send season's greetings to all who are reading this blog and best wishes for the New Year.
No comments:
Post a Comment